Experimental Ebola Drug Credited With Saving Doctor

German doctors are crediting an experimental drug with helping to save a man critically ill with Ebola.

The patient, a 38-year-old Ugandan doctor, was airlifted to Frankfurt five days after the onset of symptoms. Placed in intensive care, he was suffering from failure of the lungs, kidneys and gastrointestinal tract, as well as hemorrhaging of the blood vessels, a hallmark of Ebola infection.

The doctor, who was not named by German health authorities, was placed on a ventilator and kidney dialysis and given a three-day course of FX06, an experimental drug that is made from a natural human blood clotting protein called fibrin.

"Even though the patient was critically ill, we were able to support him long enough for his body to start antibody production and for the virus to be cleared by his body's defenses," said Dr. Timo Wolf, lead author of an article about the case published this week in the journal Lancet.

This is believed to be the first time the drug was used to treat Ebola.Previously, the drug had been tested in mice and also for safety in a European trial on cardiac patients.

A second Ebola patient was also treated with FX06, but his disease was further advanced when he received the drug and he subsequently died, doctors said.

German doctors are crediting an experimental drug with helping to save a man critically ill with Ebola.
The patient, a 38-year-old Ugandan doctor, was airlifted to Frankfurt five days after the onset of symptoms. Placed in intensive care, he was suffering from failure of...

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